Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1939, Síða 474
464
LE NORD
on such business have been stopped and taken to German ports
£or investigation. These two, however, had left a neutral port
(in Finland) before the German enlarged list of contraband goods
had been officially communicated to the Finnish Government,
which took place on September the 18th. Thus the ships in ques-
tion could not, taking into account the express stipulation in
Article 31 of the German Prize Regulations, an article in con-
formity with the general practice, be declared forfeited and con-
fiscated even though more than half the cargo did consist of
contraband, and the ships were accordingly released after the
contraband cargo had been discharged and the investigation
closed, which however took very much time. The article of the
German Prize Regulations referred to assumes in such cases, again
in conformity with the general provisions of international law,
the payment of full compensation to the owner of the confiscated
goods.
Cargoes belonging to a Finnish owner has on certain occasions
fallen into German hands, when the vessels of alien nationality,
in which it was being carried, were seized for examination. The
vessels in these cases were Swedish and were on their way to
the American continent, thus to destinations in neutral countries.
In these cases too, the vessels were taken to German ports. How-
ever, after demarches had been made to the German Government
by all three States concerned, the vessels were released with their
cargoes, as it was only natural they should be.
The German authorities have made several demands regard-
ing the behaviour of neutral vessels while out at sea, with a view
to facilitating control of their movements. Thus, for instance, they
have warned neutral vessels not to join any convoy escorted by
belligerent warships, not to deviate from the regular routes or
in general to alter their course, not to shade their lights while
moving at night and not to make use of their wireless when in
the vicinity of belligerent warships. The Germans have threat-
ened that they will open fire on merchant vessels in enemy con-
voys in the same manner as on the escorting warships and declar-
ed that vessels, which do not observe the other demands mentioned
above, may find themselves being treated by mistake as enemy
vessels, with possible disastrous consequences to themselves. In
actual practice, no case has as yet occurred, from which one could
decide whether the Germans are in earnest with these demands.
It is hardly possible, however, to find any justification for these
German demands in their present form.